FFVII:infinities
by MrWezlum18
Summary: Everything that happened in Crisis Core stays the same until the very end, take a look. See what good one man could still do. chapter 3 extended so re-read, re-read, re-read! pairings sooner or later.
1. The Price of Freedom

I don't own Final Fantasy VII, so get off my back!

Final Fantasy VII: Infinities

"We're friends, right?"

A yellow pick-up truck braked, coming to a complete stop on the side of the road.

"I feel for ya boys. But I'm too old to be sticking my neck out any further, I've got a family to support y'know?"

"Don't worry about it. You've been a huge help."

"Good luck, kid."

With that the truck sped off, leaving two young men in the dust, a man with black hair, and a younger man with spiky, golden hair being supported by his friend.

Sensing danger in the winds, the older man pulled the golden-haired boy behind the rocky outcropping on the roadside...

Zack set Cloud down as gently as he could, setting him up in a sitting position. Cloud looked like he might have just sat down on his own to take a breather, ready to jump up and walk into Midgar on his own feet, and not on Zack's shoulder. But unfortunately the only cure for mako poisoning, are mythical levels of hope and patience.

Zack ruffled Clouds spikes with a small chuckle, then turned and strode off into the sunlight. Unaware as his friend weakly raised his hand in a silent plea, as if to say "Don't go!"

XXXX

Zack stood alone on the cliff overlooking midgar, facing down a whole army of Shinra Troops. A thousand guns pointed at him. He almost felt intimidated. Almost. He knew there was no escape this time.

"Boy, oh boy. The price of freedom is steep." Zack thought of his late mentor, as he reached for the Buster Sword. He held it in front of his forehead, for probably the last time.

"Embrace your dreams," he recited to himself, "and whatever happens, protect your honor, as SOLDIER!"

Zack charged forward, with a battle cry, "Come and get it!!!"

The battle was either fifteen minutes, or fifteen years. It was hard to say. Zack swung his blade again, and again, and again. Every stroke felled another shinra guard, or two, or five.

Materia blazing, blood flying, it was two hairs away from a slaughter. No matter how many grenades were tossed, no matter how many missiles sent him flying to the ground, Zack would just leap back up even more determined.

Inevitably, however, the prolonged fighting took its toll. There was probably less blood in Zack than on the ground. His whole life flashing through his mind's eye, Zack slumped to the ground. His body was riddled with gun wounds, yet he could still stand. Zack looked up again, there were very few troopers left now. Maybe he had a chance.

She passed through Zack's mind once more. Feeling new energy, Zack got into the best fighting stance he could and hobbled towards his remaining foes. He swung his sword once more, but the soldier easily side-stepped it and leveled his rifle with Zack's face. The death blow was about to be delivered.

Genesis, Hollander, and even Sephiroth had been unable to finish him. Now Zack would be killed by a Shinra grunt. It just went to show that, Shinra was a more fearsome enemy than anything the lifestream could conjure up...

The trooper was an instant from pulling the trigger, when his focus broke as a Shinra helicopter swooped down. The trooper barely caught a glimpse of it, however, before he was taken down with one shot from a black suited man in the chopper's cockpit.

Some of the other shinra troops scattered, scared. But one remained behind, to finish the job. He pointed his sniper rifle at Zack's heart. He fired just as Rude picked him off with his handgun, the shot went wide.

Zack gasped in pain as the bullet pierced through his stomach plate, into this abdomen, cutting through skin, muscle, and bone. Finally beaten, Zack fell to the ground.

"Damn it!" yelled Reno leaping out of the copter as soon as it was on the ground, he whipped out his electro-rod and smashed a remaining troop in the face. He sprinted to Zack. He was alive, but barely.

Reno looked up, in the distance were more troops running towards them. "Rude, let's boogie!"

Rude tossed his gun to Reno, and them scooped up Zack into this arms. Zack's sword fell from his limp hand and clanged loudly on the rocks. Leaving it where it landed, the Turks raced back to their chopper and took off.

"Back to the chopper!," the commanding officer shouted, "Don't let them escape!"

But even as he said this, the Turks copter veered back towards them, at a dangerous tilt. The vehicles's blades spinning with the promise of death. Reno still flew like a madman...

The Sargent's last thought's were, 'Damn assassins.'


	2. The Blood is Washed Away

Zack awoke suddenly, he registered bright lights. A second later all feeling came back. Pain. Burning, tearing, biting, stinging pain. Men in white stood all around him, restraining him, cutting into his mangled flesh with their knives. He watched their satanic ritual for a moment before he began to scream. One of the men covered Zack's mouth with a rag, and all fell back into blissful darkness.

"Surely, I've died and gone to hell." were Zack's final thoughts as he faded, "I wish I could have seen her... one last... "

XXXX

The wastelands were still, quiet and peaceful once again. The silence was complete, but still heavy with death. Though the fallen Shinra troops had been carried away, here and there was a cracked helmet, a broken sword, dark stains covered all.

On a hill top above the desolation, amidst the ruin lay a great sword. The sword showed no signs of wear, despite the death it had dealt many times over, it was a sword that only the greatest of warriors could wield, a sword that carried on its blade the honor of one man, and the dreams of another. The rain fell, washing the blood away.

XXXX

Zack could feel himself awakening again, and he dreaded his return to consciousness. Would he awake to fresh torture? Would he be forced to gaze again upon his body as it was cut to pieces? But he felt nothing. There was no pain, not even an ache. Zack opened his eyes slowly. There were no bright lights now. He lay in a soft bed, his SOLDIER uniform replaced with a silken gown. Fearing what he might see, Zack lifted the blankets away from his chest and pulled up the gown. Bandages had been applied, crisscrossing his torso, gauze was held tightly by medical tape to every inch of skin, as if the persons who had wrapped him had been afraid of his body coming apart. Pulling a section of gauze away revealed ragged lines of stitches, blood still oozing out around the threads, staining the sheets. Somehow, seeing his blood pushing out around the stitches reassured Zack. The blood was visual proof that his heart still beat. Despite all the odds, he was alive...

XXXX

The slums of sector 6, home of the lower city's main train station. Many, many people passed through. From here, one could travel to any sector of the lower part of Midgar or, for those with a special permit, to plate where the sky existed. But in Sector 6, there was no sky except for the dark metal under-belly of Midgar leaving the slums in seemingly endless night.

Tifa Lockhart had to escape from the bar. She just couldn't stand to be there a second longer. Not that Barret wasn't a more than adequate bouncer, but when he went to the basement to plan AVALANCHE's missions all the worst drunks wandered in. Although she could handle the most leecherest drunk, it was still suffocating to stay there. So she closed shop, and went for a walk.

For no apparent reason, she found herself walking toward the train platform. There was no one at the station but the usual guard.

But in the corner of her eye, Tifa noticed a boy sitting in the shadow of the platform. He seemed to be staring at his boots as if he were in a trance. Next to him lay a monstrously big sword, but what drew her attention was his spiky golden hair. Very _familiar _spiky golden hair...


	3. Keep on Rockin' in Midgar

"Easy now." Said Zack.

He was sitting on his hospital bed, having his stitches removed. Three days had passed. Despite the risk, the doctors had used repetitive doses of mako from a restore materia for two days to stimulate and then speed up Zack's healing process. Although they had been somewhat forced into doing this, the doctors were still rather impressed with Zack's recovery.

The sound of the door opening caught Zack's attention, quickly turning around he, only saw Cissinei standing near the foot of his bed.

"You look lively." She observed.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now."

"I suppose, after waking up during surgery, you wouldn't be."

"It's not that! That I can deal with..."

"You're worried about Cloud?"

"Of course! I can't believe Reno and Rude just left him there."

"Well there wasn't much choice, what with the Shinra army on your tails and with you being in critical condition..."

"You're going to defend them abandoning Cloud?"

"We've had this argument before Zack, we didn't know where Cloud was and you were literally on death's door when they brought you to the Turks private med-center.

"And on top of everything, they left the Buster Sword behind." Zack muttered.

"You're not still hung up on that are you?"

"Cloud is a little more important than the sword," Zack agreed, "But just a little." He added.

"...Seriously?"

"Heh, that's what Angeal would say anyway."

"I thought you weren't 'in the mood for jokes'." said Cissnei dryly.

With that, the Doctor stood up with the last of the thread from Zack's stitches in his hand. "It's all done, now we just have to run a quick physical, and then some paper work, and you'll be ready to go."

"We'll be skipping that part." Said Cissnei quickly.

"Yeah, I've got too much to do to waste time on that!." said Zack.

Zack pulled on his shirt and leapt off of the bed and onto his feet. As soon as he landed, his feet gave out, and he landed hit the floor. He could not move an inch. Literally; Try as he might, Zack could not move his legs.

"Zack!"

Zack heard Cissnei calling his name, and was vaguely aware of someone, probably the doctor, trying to turn him over.

XXX

"I was afraid of this," said the Doctor, and hour later, "we couldn't be sure until after he recovered from the battle, but one of the bullets we took out of him nicked two Vertebrae."

"What are you saying?" came Cissnei's voice.

"He is paralyzed. The extent of the damage is still uncertain, but it is definite that he will never fight again."

"But he was able to move before."

"It is because he is a former SOLDIER operative that he was able to do even that much."

Zack listened to this exchange with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep so that he did not have to talk to anyone. Now that he was giving it some thought, he did notice a faint numbness in his legs. A numbness that did not go away, a numbness that made even twitching his toes nearly impossible.

Putting these thoughts aside, Zack cast his mind far away from that hospital room. Far away from the problems that relentlessly threw themselves on to Zack's shoulders; Far away he cast his thoughts, away to a small flower garden in the slums.

XXXX

Perhaps she felt Zack's pain, or perhaps she was just bored, but Aerith nevertheless still paused in her daily work to look up into the metaphorical sky of the Midgar Slums. Sometimes on certain days, a small beam of sunlight would somehow permeate the metal shell that surrounded the slums. Today was one of those days, giving the church a warmer more peaceful atmosphere.

Suddenly the peace was shattered, because as Aerith looked though the old hole in the ceiling, there was an explosion! Followed by an orange light, and then such a grinding sound. It felt like someone was grinding their teeth on while scratching the nails on a chalkboard at the same time. The sound echoed about the whole sector, and just as suddenly as it began; it stopped.

With a crash, a large something crashed through her ceiling. With a loud fwump, that something landed in her flowers. A little more shocked than starled, Aerith approached the stirring mass in her flowerbed. It was a man, looking like he had just shed the protectiveness of boyhood. Or was it a boy just beginning to shoulder grim realities of being a man? It was hard to say, but two things were for sure. That was a SOLDIER uniform he wore, and his bright golden hair made his head look like a chocobo. Bemused, Aerith looked up at the ceiling and saw that the new hole was the same size and shape as the one Zack had left all those years ago...


End file.
